Future State: Suicide Squad #1

Future State: Suicide Squad #1DC Comics 2021

Written by Robbie Thompson

Illustrated by Javier Fernandez

Coloured by Alex Sinclair

Lettered by Wes Abbott

The Suicide Squad enters the Future State era as Amanda Waller uses Task Force X to save the world and remake it in her image-but what happens when the team shows up to stop her?

And in the second story in this extra-sized issue, Black Adam, the immortal one-time champion of the wizard Shazam, rules the planet Kahndaq in the 853rd century. Can he save the future from a threat rooted in the past?

I was kind of against this whole Future State thing when it was announced but like a good reviewer and lover of comics I picked the titles that intrigued the most and gave them the proper shot that they deserve. I am so glad that I did too because this one has me all kinds of excited! I love the idea that this is an Earth from the Multiverse and that it isn’t set in stone for the characters that inhabit the world we know and love. So to see Robbie taking this in such a direction makes me wonder why he hasn’t had the opportunity to do this before. Also I believe this is the first time I’m reviewing his comics work which is odd but hey the man has experience and it shows.

I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is extremely well done. I love the narration that opens up the book and the insignia that we see is one that most won’t immediately recognise and I completely and utterly love that! Also wow the information given is just the tip of the iceberg of what we want to see and know more of. The character development is amazing and the more they speak, the more we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter the more incredible the story becomes. The pacing here is perfect and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story the reader will glued to their seat.

I am completely impressed with the way we see this being structured and how the layers within the story emerge is just beautifully done. Also the way that everything works together here to create the story’s ebb & flow is amazing to see happen.

The interiors here are nicely done. The linework is good, solid and strong and how the varying weights are being utilised to create the detail work that we see is really nicely done. The composition we see within the panels with backgrounds being utilised is so nice to see! The depth perception, sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope that we see as well as how the backgrounds enhance the moments makes this much more exciting than it already is and that’s impressive. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panel show a really solid and talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is really beautifully rendered. There are so many different techniques being utilised and it works so well here and it’s just amazing to see such a mastery of the craft. Add to that the way we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create shading, highlights and shadow work and wowza!

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This is so much more amazing than I was expecting it to be and even the back-up story is so well done. The entire issue held my attention, curiosity and made me want to see so much more. These are the stories that belong to their own reality and not bleed into the others. This is simply pure and outstanding storytelling.